Concerts are back for 2025 Tuesdays at the Gazebo for June, July and August. Concerts start at 6:30 p.m. unless noted. Call the field house at (312) 742-7511 for cancellations or delays caused by weather. All performances are free and open to the public. Please join us for an upcoming show! Download the schedule pdf here.
Bring chairs, blankets, your food and (non-alcoholic) beverages, but do not leave trash or food at the park, please! We urge you to use reusable containers that you can take home.
If you are interested in sponsoring the Gazebo Concert Series, please reach out to us at wellesparkac@gmail.com. Likewise, if you are a professional musician or group and would like to be considered for our summer 2026 series, please fill out this form and submit it no later than March 31, 2026. If you submitted this form for the current year but were not selected, Thank You!, but we had over 90 performers apply for the eight spots that the Advisory Council programs. We are currently engaging sponsors for this year’s series. Feel free to contact us at wellesparkac@gmail.com or use the “Donate” button above.
2024 Welles Park Gazebo Concerts Schedule
6/11/24 Broadway in Your Backyard: Porchlight Music Theater
6/18/24 Woodrow Hart & the Haymaker
6/25/24 Judson Claiborne
7/2/24 NO CONCERT: Happy Independence Day!7/9/24 Marquette Park Composers (RESCHEDULED TO AUG. 27TH DUE TO WEATHER)
7/16/2024 whitewolfsonicprincess7/23/24 Turath Ensemble (RESCHEDULED TO AUG. 29th DUE TO WEATHER)
7/30/24 Super Stolie
8/6/24 Xariah Blu
8/13/24 Celia Rose Band
8/20/24 Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players
(Sponsored by Altitude Chicago)
8/27/24 Marquette Park Composers – RESCHEDULED
Thursday! 8/29/24 Turath Ensemble – RESCHEDULED
2023 Welles Park Gazebo Concerts Schedule
July 11, 2023 –Alfonso Ponticelli
July 18, 2023- Summer Singing in the Gazebo – with songleader Megan Eberhardt
8 pm – Movies in the Parks – Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish
July 25, 2023 – (Amalgama) Gonzalo Córdova (from Sones de Mexico) y Renato Cerón (from A Flor De Piel)
August 1, 2023 – Nathan Graham
August 8, 2023 – The Girls of the Golden West
August 15, 2023 – Second Hand News
August 22, 2023 – The Magnificent Strings with Susan Voelz and Alison Chesley
If you, your organization, or your business is interested in sponsorship opportunities for this beloved (and very well-attended) neighborhood series, please contact the Advisory Council at wellesparkac@gmail.com
Tuesdays at the Gazebo History
A Summer Tradition in Welles Park
By Sarah Dandelles, WPAC executive team
(Special thanks to Gene Schulter and Becky Kliber)
Tuesday night concerts at Welles Park began in approximately 1994, when then-47th-ward alderman Gene Schulter and his team sought to bring more cultural arts programming to the 47th ward, and envisioned a “Ravinia-like” experience in the city. Schulter gathered the local parks and chambers of commerce to divide the ward into quadrants, and helped to facilitate the evening summer music series in each of four spaces which continue to this day: Northcenter Town Square, Giddings Plaza, Chase Park, and Welles Park. At the time, there were no arts organizations in the ward, but that would soon change…dramatically!
Welles Park concerts began even before current park supervisor Becky Kliber was the area manager for the Chicago Park District, and were likely organized by the previous park supervisor with the support of the alderman’s office. In 1999, the Old Town School of Folk Music opened nearby on Lincoln Avenue, and it helped to program and donate the concerts for some years. Additionally, with funds raised through the Old Town School’s annual Folk & Roots Festival (held in Welles Park from 1998 to 2012), the Welles Park Advisory Council (WPAC) funded the balance of the concerts, with Kliber planning and executing the events with the help of park staff.
The concerts also predated the Gazebo structure itself. The Welles Park Gazebo was opened in 2004 and, according to Schulter, has a companion structure in Paris. Funding for the Gazebo was organized by Schulter, and came from private donors, many of whom remain anonymous.
In the mid 2000s, the Old Town School ceased its concert sponsorship, and, under Kliber’s management, WPAC over fiscal responsibility and much of the programming of the concerts through the early 2010s, soliciting sponsors such as The Welles Park Parents (Baseball) Association, local elected officials and businesses, and The Gene and Rosemary Schulter Foundation, and financing the balance through WPAC’s extant fundraising. Starting in 2012, Kliber organized an in-kind trade of three concerts per season for the Old Town School’s use of the park for its summer arts camps. And, beginning in 2014, the Welles Park Parents (Baseball) Association (WPPA) began to sponsor a portion of the Tuesday series performances and equipment fund.
Also in 2014, the citywide Chicago Park District program called Nights Out in the Parks began, and incorporated the Welles Tuesday night concert series into its promotions. In most years since 2016, Welles Park has benefitted from at least one concert or event per summer through this series.
WPAC is the primary agent for the series, and programs the overall seven to 11 weeks of concerts per summer, and WPAC is responsible for payments to performers, an on-site sound engineer, and equipment, as well as raising donations and connecting partnerships and sponsorships of the series.
If you, your organization, or your business is interested in sponsorship opportunities for this beloved (and very well-attended) neighborhood series, please contact the Advisory Council at wellesparkac@gmail.com
Welles Park Advisory Council 